German SMEs record rise in cyberattacks, reveals HDI poll
Cyberattacks against small businesses in Germany exceeded those against medium-sized firms for the first time
More than half of German buyers at small and medium-sized companies experienced a cyberattack last year, according to a survey of 1,500 local firms by HDI Versicherung. Publishing its HDI Cyber Study 2024, the third annual survey of SMEs, the German corporate insurer tracked a resurgence of the cyber threat against medium-sized companies, with 53% having experienced an attack compared with 40% in previous surveys, while 56% of small businesses also experienced a cyberattack, up from 37%.
Christian Kussmann, board member at HDI Versicherung, said: “The new cyber study clearly shows that small businesses, micro-enterprises and freelancers are also becoming more and more interesting for attackers,” with 39% of micro-businesses surveyed reporting a cyberattack in the 2024 poll.
HDI Versicherung said it has tracked a renewed increase in the perception of cyber risk, with 49% of buyers surveyed rating the risk of a cyberattack against an SME in Germany as high or fairly high, although just 38% of the survey said they thought it likely their own company would be affected, up by ten percentage points from the 2023 survey. Further, 34% of respondents rated the probability of damage to their firm from a cyberattack, up from 23% in the 2023 survey, although Kussmann said the cyber threat to companies may have been “temporarily pushed back” in previous surveys as firms grappled with inflation and supply chain issues.
HDI Versicherung also warned of a “rapidly decreasing awareness of cyber dangers” after organisations are affected by a cyberattack. More than half of firms (57%) surveyed that had suffered a cyberattack in the past 12 months rated their risk of attack as high or very high, but this decreased to 27% for firms that experienced a cyberattack three years ago.
Similarly, 65% of respondents that recorded a cyberattack in the past 12 months said the risk of cyberattack against the SME sector is high, reducing to 36% for respondents that last suffered an attack more than a year ago.
“The negative experience of a cyberattack fades into the background relatively quickly,” Kussmann said.
